Six minutes from the end of his wrestling career, stuck on 99 wins and well short of securing his first bid to the PIAA-AA championships, Eric Kemble could have been nervous, or anxious, or scared even, that he would miss out on goals he’d set years ago.

Not Kemble.

The Newport senior, having lost a 9-3 decision to Nikko Stevens of Northern Lehigh in his first match of the 135-pound bracket at the Southeast Regional tournament was, instead, “mad.”

“I watched Stevens wrestle (in the first round). I didn’t think I should have lost to him. I just didn’t wrestle well,” Kemble said. “But, I was confident I could (come back through consolations). And I was hoping I’d get another chance at him.”

Through sheer will and talent borne of so many hours on practice mats, Kemble got his wish.In the first round of consolations, the Buffalo dusted off Donald Minnier of Eastern York (5-3) to clinch his 100th career win. In the second, he dominated Samuel Tascone of Delco Christian (6-0) then, after giving up a third-period lead and losing 6-5 to Central Catholic’s Damien Hopper in the consolation semifinals, Kemble realized he’d face off once again with Stevens with fifth place, and the final berth in the state meet, on the line. This time, he broke through.

After a scoreless first period, Stevens escaped and turned in on Kemble, going for a takedown off a left-hand dump, the trademark shot of Northern Lehigh wrestlers.

Kemble quickly countered the shot, fired in hard and caught Stevens, throwing him to his back and locking in a tight half-nelson. The official, 2:46 into the match, slapped the mat signaling a pin, and Kemble had advanced to the state tournament.

“Getting 100 wins was important and getting to states was a goal,” Kemble explained. “When I caught Stevens, I was thinking, ‘You are not getting out.’ Beating him was definitely a revenge thing.”

“I’m really happy for Eric. He’s worked hard to get to this point,” said Buffalo coach Mike Capozzoli, who is taking his first wrestler to states since Kyle Parrish got there in 2008. “Eric’s a kid you wouldn’t want to wrestle twice in the same weekend. You know he’s going to come at you six minutes hard.

“(Against Stevens), there were good physical scrambles and Eric got hit in the face a couple times. That really fired his engine. He took Stevens down right to his back with a deep half. Stevens didn’t have a chance.”

Kemble was the only county wrestlers to make it out of the regional tournament. That’s not to say the other four who competed didn’t make a mark. Buffaloes Austin Clegg and Bryce Mullen, and Susquenita seniors Harley Mabius and Zach Howell each made solid bids to extend their careers another week.

Clegg, Newport’s 125-pounder, was within one win of making it to the state tournament. Mullen, Mabius and Howell were each within one win of reaching the medal rounds.

Mullen pulled off the shocker of the tournament, pinning Kyle Dehaut of Bethlehem Catholic, who entered the regional ranked No. 4 in the state at 152 pounds by Off The Mat and was the defending SE Region champ.

“Bryce got underneath and hooked in a deep half,” Capozzoli explained. “That was a huge win for him.”Mullen was pinned in the second round, but won his consolation bout 10-4, before being eliminated on an 8-0 decision to Adam Mackie of Brandywine Heights.

Clegg dropped a 2-0 first-round decision to Kody Rittenbaugh of Pine Grove, who went on to place third, but won by injury default and 6-4 (OT) in two consolation bouts.

The Buffalo wrestled Mark Lentz of Boiling Springs in the consolation semis, but lost by fall, then lost a 6-0 decision in the fifth-place match to Paul Sloand of Saucon Valley. Clegg earned a sixth-place medal, but was unable to get to the state championships.

“I’m very proud of these seniors, especially with how they wrestled in the consolation round on Friday night,” Capozzoli said. “They knew they had great seasons, had accomplished a lot and that it would have been OK for their seasons to be over. But that first consolation round, they wrestled hard, they broke guys mentally and physically.

“This was Austin’s first postseason and Bryce never made out of sections before. For them to wrestle like this is pretty special. They competed and went out strong.”